Shenzhen is one of China's largest cities and is home to many industrial estates and companies
Kaisa Group has become the first Chinese property developer to default on its overseas debt, which is estimated to be about $2.5bn (£1.7bn).
The Shenzhen-based company said it missed two interest payments, raising concerns that more of its creditors could demand their money back.
Kaisa has borrowed billions in order to pay for large land purchases in China.
But the firm ran into trouble after the government froze some of its projects as part of a local corruption probe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has spearheaded one of the country's most severe crackdowns on corruption, resulting in many companies and top public officials coming under scrutiny.
Investors have been closely watching Kaisa's troubles after its assets were frozen and senior management stepped down last year, raising concerns the company was going to collapse.
Its founder and chairman Kwok Ying Shing unexpectedly resigned on 31 December because of health reasons, but he returned to the company this month and has been reinstated.
The firm's Hong Kong-listed shares were also suspended in December after losing about half of their market value and ratings agencies downgraded the firm's credit outlook.
However, Kaisa recently regained permission to restart the projects that had been frozen.
Bond markets
Kaisa's troubles have unnerved the local stock and bond markets, particularly for investors who have bought into other Chinese real estate developers.
Any trouble in China's property market is closely-watched because the sector accounts for about a third of the country's gross domestic product.
The price of Kaisa's US dollar bonds fell on Tuesday after the default was officially announced on concerns the developer may not be able to fulfil its financial obligations.
However, the developer has been in talks with creditors over a restructuring that will allow them to have extended repayment deadlines and lower interest rates.
Rival developer Sunac is also bidding for a controlling 49.3% stake in the company.
Shenzhen is one of China's largest cities and is home to many industrial estates and companies
Kaisa Group has become the first Chinese property developer to default on its overseas debt, which is estimated to be about $2.5bn (£1.7bn).
The Shenzhen-based company said it missed two interest payments, raising concerns that more of its creditors could demand their money back.
Kaisa has borrowed billions in order to pay for large land purchases in China.
But the firm ran into trouble after the government froze some of its projects as part of a local corruption probe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has spearheaded one of the country's most severe crackdowns on corruption, resulting in many companies and top public officials coming under scrutiny.
Investors have been closely watching Kaisa's troubles after its assets were frozen and senior management stepped down last year, raising concerns the company was going to collapse.
Its founder and chairman Kwok Ying Shing unexpectedly resigned on 31 December because of health reasons, but he returned to the company this month and has been reinstated.
The firm's Hong Kong-listed shares were also suspended in December after losing about half of their market value and ratings agencies downgraded the firm's credit outlook.
However, Kaisa recently regained permission to restart the projects that had been frozen.
Bond markets
Kaisa's troubles have unnerved the local stock and bond markets, particularly for investors who have bought into other Chinese real estate developers.
Any trouble in China's property market is closely-watched because the sector accounts for about a third of the country's gross domestic product.
The price of Kaisa's US dollar bonds fell on Tuesday after the default was officially announced on concerns the developer may not be able to fulfil its financial obligations.
However, the developer has been in talks with creditors over a restructuring that will allow them to have extended repayment deadlines and lower interest rates.
Rival developer Sunac is also bidding for a controlling 49.3% stake in the company.
The results are the last under long-serving chief executive Brady Dougan.
He will be stepping aside for current Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam at the end of June.
"Wealth management clients generated a particularly strong result, with improved margins, increased profitability and good net asset inflows from key growth regions," Mr Dougan said.
"Our swift and proactive response to the changed currency and interest rate environment post the Swiss National Bank's announcement, combined with an improvement in market activity, mitigated the impact on our results".
Martha Lane Fox is one of the female directors on the board of FTSE 100 company, Marks & Spencer
Britain's top companies have made "enormous progress" on gender diversity by doubling the number of female directors, new figures indicate.
Lord Davies, the former trade minister, said women now accounted for 23.5% of FTSE 100 board members, up from 12.5% in 2011.
The increase means that companies are on track to meet his 25% target for 2015.
"The voluntary approach is working - boards are getting fixed," he said.
The government report found that there were now 263 female directors in FTSE 100 companies, meaning a further 17 women need to be appointed this year to meet the 25% target.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "FTSE 100 boards have made enormous progress in the last four years ... we must celebrate this outstanding achievement and the change in culture that is taking hold at the heart of British business."
Risk of stagnation
However, the latest statistics showed that smaller companies were less diverse at the top, with women accounting for just 18% of directors on the boards of FTSE 250 firms - although that was a sharp rise from 7.8% in 2011.
Mr Cable said both government and businesses had to focus on ensuring women were rising fast enough through the pipeline and taking up senior positions.
An annual benchmarking report by the Cranfield University School of Management, published alongside the government report, said 41 firms in the FTSE 100 and 65 in the FTSE 250 had now met the 25% target.
Drinks firm Diageo and Intercontinental Hotels Group jointly topped the Cranfield ranking, with 45% female representation on their boards.
But Dr Elena Doldor, co-author of the report, said she expected women's representation on boards to stagnate at about 28%.
"There are still not enough women on executive committees or in the executive pipeline. Introducing aspirational and measurable targets for women at all levels is the only way to achieve real progress," she added.
Women's progress at the top:
FTSE 100 companies have 263 female board members - 23.5% of the total
FTSE 250 companies have 365 female board members - 18% of the total
There are no all-male boards in the FTSE 100
There remain 23 all-male boards in the FTSE 250
'Still work to do'
The Cranfield report also compared the UK's progress to the rest of the world over the past decade, saying Britain's progress meant it ranked fifth globally.
CBI deputy-director general Katja Hall said the statistics showed the voluntary approach to increasing diversity in business was working.
"To keep up momentum businesses must now continue to work on building the talent pipeline by supporting more women to take on management roles and helping mothers return to work," she added.
Similarly, Lisa Buckingham, senior adviser on diversity at the Institute of Directors, said more needed to be done.
"Company boards, senior executives, employees, the wider public, appointment committees and recruiters, especially, all have a role to play. They have made an impressive start but there is still work to do."
Trade talks between the US and European Union have been marked by "dog whistle" politics, a group of MPs has warned.
The Business Select Committee said debate over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) had been over-simplified and misrepresented.
The committee said that attitudes must change if progress is to be made.
The proposed free trade deal faces opposition across Europe, with UK campaigners alleging it could open the NHS to privatisation of services.
In its final report of the current Parliament, the committee called on the Government to stop saying the deal could be worth £100bn to the EU and come up instead with a "comprehensive assessment" of the economic benefits and risks for different sectors.
The MPs also want ministers to make an "unequivocal" statement that public services will be protected.
EU and US negotiators hope to agree the partnership by the end of the year. But the MPs said too much detail remained "beyond public scrutiny".
'Not convinced'
The report said: "TTIP has the potential to have a significant impact on the UK economy, on jobs and on public services, but the debate on it so far has been marked by too much 'dog whistle' politics on each side."
A highly controversial part of TTIP involves dispute resolution, allowing companies to take a government to an international court. Critics say an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) would benefit corporations at the expense of democracy.
Labour MP Adrian Bailey, who chairs the committee, said: "We are not convinced the case has been made for the inclusion of ISDS clauses and we urge the Government to set out a clear statement guaranteeing the protection of public services at present, and the right to expand them in the future, is set out in any ISDS provisions.
Mr Bailey said there had not been sufficient examination of the potential benefits of TTIP: "The Government needs to come up with a sector-by-sector analysis."
The company behind Burger King and Heinz is reported to be in talks to buy Kraft in a deal that could value the US food giant at more than $40bn (£27bn).
In 2103, 3G and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway teamed up to buy ketchup maker H.J. Heinz for $23bn.
Kraft shares jumped 15% in after-market trading following the reports.
Based on Tuesday's closing share price of $61.32, Kraft was worth $36bn. But any buyer would typically have to pay a significant premium over the market value.
Kraft, known for its cheese of the same name and also Philadelphia, is one of America's biggest food companies. It owns Maxwell House coffee and in 2010 bought the UK chocolate maker Cadbury for £11.5bn.
Kraft no longer owns Cadbury after spinning it off in a company called Mondelez, which also includes the Toblerone, Kenco and Oreo brands.
3G was co-founded by Jorge Paulo Lemann, who was a major shareholder in brewer InBev and helped steer its 2008 acquisition of Anheuser-Busch.
The private equity firm has been linked as a bidder for several food groups, and in February was reported to be looking at the Campbell Soup Company.
Students have been protesting about the statue as an emblem of South Africa's lack of change
A statue of a person dead for 113 years does not often overwhelm a leading university and dominate national headlines. But earlier this month, politics student Chumani Maxwele emptied a bucket of excrement over the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at the centre of the University of Cape Town's campus in South Africa.A statue of a person dead for 113 years does not often overwhelm a leading university and dominate national headlines.
Mr Maxwele's protest has electrified longstanding resentments about the ways in which the past is remembered and celebrated. It has also crystallised deep and entrenched disagreements about student admissions, the university curriculum and academic appointments.
Rhodes was a British Victorian mining magnate and ardent advocate of colonialism, who gave his name to Rhodesia and became an influential figure in South African politics. Protesters are now demanding that his statue be removed.
Rhodes' brooding image and the University of Cape Town (UCT) campus are framed by Devil's Peak and the World Heritage site of Table Mountain.
They look out over the Cape Flats and its townships and informal settlements, many of which still lack basic services.
Symbols of inequality
Extreme income inequality remains a persistently stubborn problem more than two decades after the end of apartheid. Inevitably, issues that are precipitated by symbols and fought through at the university have a far wider resonance.
The statue of Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) has become a symbol of divided views on South Africa's past
Nelson Mandela, who was awarded an honorary degree by the university within weeks of leaving prison in 1990, knew this.
When opening the new national museum on Robben Island, he said: "Having excluded and marginalised most of our people, is it surprising that our museums and national monuments are often seen as alien spaces?
"With democracy, we have the opportunity to ensure that our institutions reflect history in a way that respects the heritage of all our citizens."
Mr Maxwele's protest was in the tradition of guerrilla theatre - unexpected performances in public places designed for maximum impact.
Two decades after the fall of apartheid there are frustrations about the pace of change
Wearing a brightly coloured safety helmet and two placards - "Exhibit White Arrogance UCT" and "Exhibit Black Assimilation UCT" - Mr Maxwele emptied his bucket in front of the press, who had been tipped off to attend.
Mr Maxwele was already well known for protesting against the privileges of power. Arrested in 2010 for gesturing at President Jacob Zuma's motorcade, he successfully sued the minister of police for wrongful arrest. His university protest has again touched a point of acute sensitivity, setting off widening responses and reactions.
Mr Maxwele's guerrilla theatre referenced an established mode of protest in Cape Town.
Whose history?
While South Africa's 1996 constitution guarantees equity in access to basic services, many in the poorer districts lack basic services, such as sanitation.
In June 2013, raw sewage was thrown at Western Cape Premier Helen Zille while she was visiting a township in the city, and buckets from portable toilets were emptied in the Legislature.
The statue was attacked with a bucket of excrement in a city where many still lack basic sanitation
Similar protests have continued, including the arrest of some 200 people travelling into the city with bags of excrement and the dumping of sewage at Cape Town International Airport.
In his protest at the university, Mr Maxwele was taking this form of confrontation to another of Cape Town's iconic places.
Will the fallout from the Rhodes statue protest be one in a series of punctuations in an ongoing trajectory of change? Or will it precipitate the radical shift called for by the university's student representative council and black staff group, TransformUCT?
Pressures for change
Dean of humanities Sakhela Buhlungu thinks that Mr Maxwele has pushed open a door to radical change.
A sociologist and expert on the labour market, Prof Buhlungu has seen how "symbolic moments" can result in the convergence of pressures for change.
Students at the university have staged protests calling for the statue to be removed from the campus
Speaking at the Vaal University of Technology a few weeks before the Rhodes statue controversy exploded, Prof Buhlungu expressed the mounting frustrations across a number of universities at employment practices that count against black South Africans.
In parallel, students are increasingly calling for changes to the curriculum, and for academics who are more representative of the diversity of their country.
Student Rekgotsofetse Chikane said: "Why must it be that a student at the University of Cape Town is pushed to the point of having to throw faecal matter over the statue of Cecil John Rhodes in order to have a conversation about transformation?"
Mr Chikane says the issue is the "subliminal racism... that makes you ignorant about your subjugation because you are never challenged to seriously engage on critical matters".
'Rhodes Must Fall' campaign
The University of Cape Town's first response to these calls for action was to convene a discussion about heritage, signage and symbolism.
The statue has been covered up with plastic after the attack
But before this could convene there had been further protests centred on the Rhodes statue, now swathed and taped in black rubbish bags.
By the time that these first negotiations with the university administration were convened, the student representative council position had hardened.
The students' president Ramabina Mahapa said: "I understand it is part of history, but the institutional representation of black people at this university is negative.
"The SRC [student representative council] has taken the stance that the statue must come down".
The students walked out of the meeting.
From here, the "Rhodes Must Fall" movement escalated rapidly, culminating in a march and the occupation of the university's administration building.
Vice-chancellor Max Price has responded with university-wide debates and a special meeting of the university senate to consider proposals. He has said that he and his executive favour removing the statue, but only the university council can decide.
An emergency meeting of the council has been called for 25 April.
Meanwhile, the stand-off has become a national issue. Students at Rhodes University in Grahamstown have protested in sympathy and higher education minister Blade Nzimande has given his support for moving the statue.
'European university in Africa'
Where next? If Prof Buhlungu is right, then symbolic changes - or the removal of the statue - will not be sufficient. There will also need to be significant changes to the university's curriculum, its staff profile, and its admissions policies.
Cecil Rhodes, Victorian advocate of colonialism
Because the University of Cape Town is South Africa's - and Africa's - highest-rated university in global rankings, such changes will have implications across the higher education system as a whole.
Mr Chikane sees the university as being in "the unfortunate position of being a European university stuck at the bottom of Africa". This could change.
While views on what should be done to resolve these issues continue to differ sharply, few will have any sympathy with Cecil John Rhodes.
In his 1877 "confession of faith", Rhodes wrote: "I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race".
Such a set of beliefs puts Mr Maxwele's guerrilla theatre in perspective.
Whether this is a moment that will be remembered for its consequences, or just another flashpoint on a long, slow, road to change, remains to be seen.
Martin Hall is emeritus professor at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business in South Africa and a former vice chancellor of Salford University in the UK.
